Sitting in a Tree
by QuickSpinner
Summary: Guy and Eep, sitting in a tree. Talking. Totally talking. And...maybe that other thing that supposedly happens in trees too. Fluff.


_AN: Hello friends...just a little fluffy piece while I'm working out some kinks in the last chapter of Acceptance. Hope you enjoy it. It's not technically a songfic, but the song below started me thinking about it, so I'm including it. There miiiiight be another chapter coming on this one, but I'm not sure, so I'm marking it complete. Please be sure to follow if you want to be notified if that second chapter happens._

_**Edit - Author's note 5/19/14 - I don't have any plans to continue this piece at the moment, but for more Guy/Eep goodness, please check out my collection "I Dwell in Possibility."**  
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**_This piece is set during the movie, immediately after Gran says Grug has no ideas and Grug climbs down the tree._**

* * *

_I was stained with a role in a day not my own. As you walked into my life, you showed what needed to be shown and I always knew what was right, just didn't know that I might peel away and choose to see with such a different sight__._

_And I will never see the sky the same way and I will learn to say goodbye to yesterday and I will never cease to fly if held down and I will always reach too high cause I've seen.__..__cause I've seen twilight__._

_I never cared, never wanted, never sought to see what flaunted so on purpose, so in my face__,__ couldn't see beyond my own place and it was so easy not to feel what I could hold but you taught me I could change whatever came within these shallow days__._

_And I will never see the sky the same way and I will learn to say goodbye to yesterday and I will never cease to fly if held down and I will always reach too high cause I've seen...cause I've seen_

_As the sun shines through, it pushes away, pushes ahead, I feel the warmth of blue, it leaves a chill instead, and I never knew that I could be so blind to all that is so real and as illusion dies I see there is so much to be revealed._

_And I will never see the sky the same way and I will learn to say goodbye to yesterday and I will never cease to fly if held down and I will always reach too high cause I've seen...cause I've seen twilight._

_Twilight, Vanessa Carlton_

* * *

Ugga stood, shoulders slumped at her mother's onslaught. She had no answer, and for a tense moment no one said anything.

It was Guy who finally broke the silence. "Ugga," he said, touching her arm. "We have to convince Grug. What's coming—there's no surviving it. Anybody who doesn't come with us will die, cave or no cave."

Ugga pursed her lips and nodded, but all she said was, "It's late. We should all go to bed. We can talk about this in the morning."

Eep could hear Guy sigh through his teeth a little as he relit the torch. He handed it and Belt to Ugga. "You guys go ahead," he said. "I'm going to stay up here just a little longer."

"Me too," Eep said quickly, and he turned to look at her. "I'll stay too," she said, feeling her face heat. "For a while." She looked at her mother. "Please."

Ugga glanced uncertainly between Eep and Guy. Gran elbowed her. Ugga sighed. "Don't stay up too late," she cautioned. "Come on. Everybody else, down for bed."

The family disappeared under the canopy, taking the torch with them.

"I thought you hated the dark," Eep said when they were gone, her voice hushed under the weight of the sky over her.

"It's not really that dark, is it?" Guy said, and she looked at him, limned in light from the sleeping suns.

"No," she admitted. Guy picked his way across the tree's thick canopy until he found a branch wide enough to be comfortable. He bounced on it experimentally and then sat down. Eep joined him, moving easily from branch to branch before swinging her legs down to sit beside him.

They sat in silence for a time, just drinking in the sky above them. Whenever Eep sneaked a look at Guy, his eyes were fixed on the sky, and she was afraid to break the silence of the night. There were so many things she wanted to ask him, but she found this quiet, serious mood of his intimidating, like a stranger sat next to her. He was so different, like this, and she liked it – she liked it a lot, actually – but he was easier to talk to when he was goofy and stammering and a little scared of her.

Now she was the one who trembled when he looked at her, offering his hand.

"Thank you," he said, "for coming with me."

She put her hand in his without quite meeting his eyes. His fingers closed around hers with a gentleness she was not accustomed to, and he rested their joined hands on his knee. He turned his gaze back up to the sky.

"Soon," he said, and she wasn't sure whether he was talking to her or to himself. "We'll be there soon." His gaze tracked back behind them, where a red glow was clearly visible.

Eep sighed, looking back with him. "It's all gone, isn't it? Everything we saw before. Everywhere we've been."

"Probably," he agreed, and she felt his fingers tighten on hers for a moment. "I'm sorry."

Eep shook her head. "It's not your fault. But it's sad." She thought of the beautiful forest, the plain where she had called him and where they had hunted together, the valley with the strange rocks, the clear lake where he had taught her to swim, the crystal cavern in the rock maze. She'd barely had time to take it in as they hurried by, and now all of it was gone.

"All those nights I slept against the back wall of the cave," she said, her voice heavy, "All of that was right on the other side. And I never even knew any of it was there." This time it was her hand that tightened. Suddenly she was so angry. "I missed all of it."

Guy winced and tugged at their hands. "Eep, that hurts."

"Oh," she gasped, and loosened her grip. "Sorry."

He turned away from the burning glow and back to the sky, looking off towards horizon, where the dark, forked shadow of his mountain slashed across the scattered pinpoints of light. "Your dad really does love you, Eep. He did what he thought was best."

"He was _wrong_," Eep said vehemently. She pulled her hand away and clenched her fists on her own knees, not wanting to hurt Guy again. She blinked back the tears that were gathering in her eyes.

Guy sighed. "I know. But he did what he thought he had to do to keep you safe, because he loves you. Don't lose sight of that."

A hot tear slipped free and slid down her cheek. "You've heard his stories," she bit out. "I'm a cautionary tale to him. He doesn't care about me, he cares about the person he wants me to be."

"I think you're wrong about that," Guy said with maddening calmness. "He loves you. He just doesn't know how to deal with you." A smile quirked the corner of his mouth. "I can sympathize. You're a handful."

"What do you know?" she muttered bitterly, annoyed that he was laughing at her.

"I know what it's like to lay alone in the dirt with your life bleeding out, and know that no one cares whether you live or die," he said, very quietly.

"I'd care," she said, just as quietly. She heard the hitch in his breath, and he twisted on the tree limb to look at her. "I care," she said more strongly, meeting his eyes.

He held up his hand, palm facing towards her. She moved on her tree limb to face him, and put her own palm against his. His fingers slid through hers and closed. She mimicked his motion and wished she knew what it meant to him. He touched her face with his free hand. His long fingers slid across her cheek, and then reached around to curl around the back of her neck. He pulled her forward so that her forehead rested against his. This move was familiar, and it sent a thrill through her. No one had ever touched her like this before. She pressed forward a little farther, so the tip of her nose rested against his. For a moment they just breathed together, and then he moved again, and suddenly his lips were pressing hers softly.

She didn't know what she was supposed to do, so she held very, very still, as his lips moved gently against her. It was warm and pleasant, and the fingers of his hand moved against hers, pulling her palm even closer against his.

He moved back from her then, taking his mouth away and leaning back just far enough that they weren't touching any more, but near enough that she could still feel his breath, and it was quicker now than it had been before. He hovered there a moment as if waiting, and she wished she could see his eyes, shadowed under his hair.

A little hesitantly, she closed the distance between them, touching her nose to his again, and then, carefully, she pressed her lips on his as he had done, trying to mimic his movements. That seemed to have been what he was waiting for. He leaned into her and moved his lips with hers. Heat flooded her and Eep inhaled sharply. He paused, pulling back slightly.

"Eep?" He was still so close she felt the word against her lips.

"What was that?" she asked in a whisper, awed.

She felt rather than saw his smile. "You've never been kissed before."

"I don't know what that means," she said, leaning away from him, a little put off by his amusement.

Now he sat back and let go of her hand, looking at her. "I—you don't? You know what kissing is, right?"

She shook her head.

"Don't your parents kiss?"

She shook her head again. "My parents don't do that."

"Oh," he said, his tone odd. He looked distinctly uncomfortable now.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "Nothing, just if I had known that you didn't know, I would have—uh, handled that...um, differently." He put a hand over his face. "But you—kissed me back and I thought—"

"Wasn't I supposed to?" she said, frowning. "Did I do it wrong?"

"No," he said quickly. "I mean, no, you didn't do anything wrong. Definitely not. Just—I, I mean I thought—"

Eep raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I'm totally lost. You seemed like you wanted me to."

"I did," he said, "I mean, if you wanted to. If you didn't want to you shouldn't have. Not that you did anything wrong. I said that already. Argh." He buried his face in his hands again. "How is this my life?" she heard him mutter.

"Guy," she said, reaching over to pull his hand away from his face. "Just explain it to me already."

He sighed. "Sorry. It's just—look, kissing is something you do with somebody—" he hesitated. "Somebody special to you. Somebody you care about and want to be close to. And if somebody kisses you, and you feel the same way about them, you kiss them back."

"Oh," she said, touching her lips. Eep processed that explanation for a moment, and everything it implied about what had just happened. "Okay," she said, her hand falling away from her mouth. "I get it."

She reached over and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back down where she could reach him, and kissed him firmly. He made a noise that could best be described as a squeak – and then his hands came up to cup her face, his eyes closed, and he was kissing her too. She paid attention to him and adjusted herself to match; she closed her own eyes, let the tension go out of her lips, let him tip her head back a little further. The hot feeling came again, but she was ready for it this time, and it was nice.

"Wow," he said roughly when they broke apart. "You learn fast." He cleared his throat.

"That was good?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, his breath coming out in a rush that was something like a laugh. He picked her hand up and held it to his chest. His heartbeat pulsed under her palm much too quickly for someone who had just been sitting in a tree. Eep put her other hand over her own heart and realized it was throbbing just as hard, and she was breathing like she had been running. In fact, now that she took the time to notice, her veins were thrumming with a faint echo of the rush she got from hunting.

"Oh," she said, and he grinned. "Have you done this before?" she wanted to know.

Guy winced. "Ah. No. Well, yes. Sort of. There was one time, but it was a weird situation, I don't think it counts." He faltered. "Girls usually don't like me much."

"Why not?" Eep tilted her head.

"Um, dunno, maybe because I'm always the skinny, awkward stranger who stumbles into camp all like 'The end is near!'" he waved his hands in the air.

Eep giggled. "That sounds familiar, yeah."

"Hey, _you_ were the one who came into _my _camp and tried to hit me with a rock," he reminded her.

"Oh yeah," she said thoughtfully. "Sorry about that." She smiled. "I'm glad I didn't hit you."

"You did kind of beat me up," he said.

"Only a little," she protested.

"And you tried to steal my fire," he added.

"Okay, okay, I get the point, I was the weird one this time," she rolled her eyes. "No wonder you left in such a hurry."

It was a moment before he spoke again. "I'm sorry about that," he said, his voice gone quiet and serious again. "I knew what was coming and I left you there to die." The pain in his voice surprised her.

"Hey," she touched his hand. "It's okay. You didn't know me."

"I might never have," he said, covering her hand with his own. "You could have died and I wouldn't even have known how much I missed you."

That made her blush, and she wasn't sure what to say, so she tried to make light. "Yeah, you would have missed out on being stuffed in a log and hauled across country, and then having to drag my crazy family along for the ride."

He shook his head and chuckled quietly. "I could've lived without the log ride, but—everything else isn't so bad." He gave her a slow grin. "And I would have missed out on teaching you to kiss."

"And swim. And slide down mountains, and use stilts, and how to walk in shoes, catch food with a trap, and," she looked up at the sky. "This," she added, her voice suddenly quiet. "That's why I have to go with you, even if it means leaving my family. I can't go back to the way things were, now that I know how much is possible." She looked at him. "You showed me that. And there's more, isn't there? So much more than I ever thought could be out here."

"There's more," he said, his eyes fixed on her. "And I want to show you all of it."

"What'll we do," Eep asked, looking back up at the sky, "when we get to Tomorrow?"

"I don't know," Guy said, looking up as well. "Whatever we want, I guess." He sighed. "We should go down. Get some rest."

"Yeah," Eep said reluctantly. They both got to their feet, balancing on the bough, and for a moment they stood hand in hand, looking toward the forked mountain. Then Guy turned to her.

"We'll go? Together?"

Eep nodded. "Together."

He stepped closer and put his free hand on her hip, and bent his head and they kissed again, for a long moment. It felt softer this time, and there was less heat, but Eep wasn't disappointed. It felt like a promise.


End file.
